Kelly Wiley

Kelly graduated with a BA in Child Development from Chico State. She has worked with young children in licensed programs since 1983.

She owned and operated Golden Gate Music Together in San Francisco 2001-2016.

She created Golden Gate Children’s Art & Outdoor Explorations in the Fall of 2013. Her vision was and still is, to offer a Reggio Inspired Enrichment Program that allowed children to tinker and explore a wide range of materials and express themselves with many different mediums. To document their process and reflect back their ideas by asking questions. To provide a art & outdoor space that was the third teacher because it inspired creativity. To build strong relationships with and between children. To foster their development and to encourage joy.

Kelly was first exposed to Reggio Emilia in 1995 when working at the PG & E Children's Center in San Francisco. It was one of the first centers in the city to start implementing Reggio Emilia inspired classrooms. Funding from the center allowed for her to take part in local and nationwide trainings and roundtable Reggio Meetings. She has remained an active member of NAEYC and attends NAREA Conferences throughout the year. Kelly has attended Reggio Emilia,Italy trainings since the Fall of 2019.

Kelly attends workshops in Reggio Emilia, Italy every Spring in April and in November. She often brings Teachers with her to attend these workshops.

This Spring 2026 she will attend workshops hosted by NAREA in Pistoia, Italy in April & Reggio Emilia, Italy in May.

Brenda Bray

Brenda was born and raised in Southern California in a little mountain town called Upland, where the lemons and peppercorns are plentiful. An older sister to five younger siblings, she blends her nurturing nature and artistic self-expression to create an open and exploratory experience.

Their love of art started in her early years and has only grown over time. She started her higher education at Chaffey College, where she acquired her associate's degree in arts and humanities. Then, post-pandemic, Brenda decided to start her new chapter in San Francisco, where she attended San Francisco State University and earned their bachelor's degree in studio arts with a concentration in painting and three-dimensional design. Earning two scholarships for their body of work.

After graduating in 2024, they have remained a practicing artist, finding time and gallery opportunities to keep their work fresh. Brenda would describe her work as a surreal Afrocentric dreamscape. Their main body of work is a concentration of the African-American/ diaspora experiences. Her joy, their pain and what the future has to offer.

Brenda has been working with children on a professional level since 2021. She started as an art teacher for two years, after the pandemic, she shifted her intentionality to being an after-school teacher in STEM-geared programs like BAM (Brains And  Motion) and Happy Hall in schools from Pacifica to the Mission District.

Ximena Vilela

Ximena Vilela is a mixed media artist whose love for art began in early childhood. She holds a degree in fashion design and has spent years exploring a vibrant range of creative mediums, including sewing, textiles, sculpture, and acrylic on wood. She finds joy in experimenting, working with her hands, and bringing ideas to life through texture and color.

Based in the Bay Area, Ximena has worked in several art studios and Reggio inspired preschools, where she blends creativity, curiosity, and play into every experience. In addition to her artistic work, she also supports administrative operations, bringing organization and care to behind the scenes processes. Her work celebrates imagination, tactile exploration, and the beauty of artistic discovery.

Zizi Hayes

Zizi grew up in San Francisco and Oakland and later attended UC Santa Cruz and graduated with a BA in psychology. Zizi was very inspired by the nature that surrounds that area, which now heavily influences their art, as well as a lot of their interests. Zizi has experience working with children in different art and play based spaces and previously worked at a Reggio Emilia inspired school. They appreciate the way that the Reggio approach centers art, play, exploration, a deep connection to nature, and emphasizes the importance of children’s autonomy.

Zizi believes that access to art and nature are incredibly important for a child’s social emotional development and enjoys being a part of that experience. Zizi loves plants, crafting and experimenting with different art forms, cooking, hiking, singing, playing guitar, reading, and spending time with their cats and loved ones.

Attended Teacher Training in Reggio Emilia, Italy in April 2025.

Ana Ostrovsky

Ana (AW-nah) was raised in San Rafael, and now calls San Francisco home. From a young age Ana has been inspired by nature, feeling a calling to environmental activism. She has always felt a deep connection between her creativity and the natural world, exploring this in her art practice. Ana began working in childcare as a young teen; babysitting, as a theater camp counselor, assistant teaching, and more, and has continued her passion for working with youth through her collegiate studies and professional work.

Ana graduated from Connecticut College with a BA in Gender, Sexuality and Intersectionality studies with minors in Educational Studies and Fine Art in 2023. Her undergraduate studies focused in particular around questions of the relationship between nature, the environment, and identity, including a senior independent study which culminated in an extensive written praxis and gallery art show. This remains central to her pedagogy as an educator, positioning the teacher as facilitator and guide rather than an expert, prioritizing experiential education methods. Since undergrad Ana has worked as a nanny, deepening her understanding of respectful parenting styles and best practices in supporting child development at various ages and stages.

From this and working as a substitute preschool teacher, Ana has specific experience supporting neurodivergent children and their parents. Ana further expanded her skills as an educator and facilitator working for the Exploratorium, designing and implementing STEAM education experiences for thousands of field trip students. Her interest and passion for fostering effective learning environments which promote social-emotional development, encourage empathy and autonomy, align her teaching style with Reggio Emilia. Ana’s preferred mediums in her own art are charcoal and oil pastels. Her hobbies include crochet, hiking, biking, walking her dog, and playing kickball with friends.

Kelley Brown

Kelley was born and raised in LA, but has absolutely adored and adopted the city life of the Bay Area since moving here to complete her undergrad at SFSU in Evolution, Ecology, and Conservation. Kelley has always been into natural and holistic approaches of learning and teaching. Having grown up in an immigrant household, it has always been a priority to reconnect with nature to better understand herself and the systems around her. Through this regimen and receiving her bachelor’s degree, Kelley began her journey of giving back to the community in sharing these types of experiences through working with youth groups through the national parks system and stewardship. 

Kelley is also a big birder and finds that the majority of her artistic expressions come from observation through bird watching and the soundscape of nature. She believes that all art forms are important to practice to help others navigate their paths in the art world. However, Kelley thoroughly enjoys making music the most and is a part of a local SF post-punk band playing bass.

Andrew Thompson

Andrew Thompson is an educator and ceramicist who has worked for the past decade making ceramic sculpture and functional ware while simultaneously teaching classes and managing various ceramic studios. He graduated from UC Davis with a degree in Art Studio, and soon after moved to Spain where he taught children English and worked in a tile factory. Most recently, he worked as an outdoor camp counselor, where he became aware of the benefits of teaching and learning in nature. He feels that making things with your hands is important, especially for children, considering the ubiquity of screens and digitalization. In his free time he enjoys hiking, playing chess, reading, writing, and of course, making art. 

Yinabelle Liang

“Bella” to those close to her, grew up in San Francisco and graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a B.A. in Computer Science. She has experience working with children in summer camp and educational settings, beginning in high school when she started volunteering at a summer camp with elementary school-aged students. After volunteering for several years, Bella began working as a Camp Lead Instructor once she was an adult.

Even though Bella pursued computer science in college, working with children has always been something that brought her joy. Bella believes that everyone is capable of accomplishing the things they put their hearts into, and she hopes to encourage children to believe in themselves and their own abilities. She enjoys creating hands-on learning experiences that encourage children to explore, problem-solve, and build confidence in their abilities. She especially enjoys seeing children become excited when they discover something for themselves and believes that learning should be a space where children feel comfortable being curious, asking questions, and trying new things. Her experience working alongside other instructors has strengthened her ability to create a supportive and engaging environment for children with different interests and learning styles.

Outside of work, Bella enjoys spending time with her friends, family, and cat. She loves karaoke, playing guitar, swimming, playing video games, watching 4D movies, and going on adventures.

Harry Galiano

Harry (Ary) Galiano is a multi-hyphenated creative from Los Angeles, CA. They are heavily inspired by both the optical rhythm of the urban landscape and their interest in topology, semiotics, and pre-history. Their practice is a material and procedural blend of painting, printmaking, and sculpture. The product of these overlaps being tectonic collages of enamel paint, found-objects, textiles, and 3D printers. Ary is a lifelong fan of interdisciplinary exploration who grew up obsessing over murals, animation, and music—all of which can be discerned from their personal archive of imagery.

After growing up in a Visual and Performing Arts environment throughout grade school, Ary switched majors during his undergraduate time at the University of Pennsylvania. From Astrophysics to a double major in Fine Arts and Architecture with a minor in Art History, it was then that their practice became more intensive, often spending entire days in studios experimenting across departments to synthesize a colloquial material language inspired by street art, geometry, and mythology. Complimented by educational and professional experience from their time at the San Francisco Museum of Craft and Design and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Ary would begin to formalize their productive process. From single color lithographs to sculptural installations, Ary’s hybridized creative practice eventually formed the foundation for what would become másomenos.

másomenos— Spanish for “more or less”— is an art collective turned design studio that has managed to blend seemingly disparate mediums into enticing projects which span the categories of video game design, curation, fashion, and large-scale murals. The team now boasts members, followers, and collaborators across Mexico, Guatemala, Brazil, Germany, the UK, Spain, and Chile! Notable projects include Pesca, Pesca (Redouble la Force), a 14-story mural located in downtown San Francisco, the Winning Time basketball court mural in Inglewood, California, and the featured entrance mural for the 2025 San Francisco Art Fair at the Fort Mason Center. These projects were completed in collaboration with Erlin Geffrard, Spirit Airlines, the Luggage Store Gallery, Project Backboard, and the NBA.

Ary’s work has been featured by Hyperallergic, KQED, ESSENCE, Artnet, Flaunt, Underscore_SF, The League, and the Daily Orange. They have also received features and invitations from the Institute of Contemporary Art (Philadelphia), Studio Enrique Martinez-Celaya, SWIM Gallery, and Great Park Gallery.